Luke Hoffman, MD, PhD

Lucas R. Hoffman, MD, PhD, is attending physician at Seattle Children's Hospital and associate professor in the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Washington School of Medicine. Hoffman's research focuses on chronic lung infections, particularly in patients with cystic fibrosis (CF). Chronic infections have proven to be particularly difficult to treat with standard antibiotic therapies. For example, the lung infections in children with CF are not improved by antibiotics to the degree we would expect.

Hoffman is working to understand why chronic lung infections are so difficult to treat and how to improve current treatments. Hoffman is also dedicated to the care of patients and to teaching medical students, residents and fellows. His areas of clinical expertise include asthma, CF, bronchopulmonary dysplasia, restrictive lung diseases and the pulmonary complications of neuromuscular disease. He is a member of the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Thoracic Society, and the American Society for Microbiology.

Recommendations

SarahKetchikan, AK11.06.11

Dr. Hoffman has been a blessing in our lives since the diagnosis of our daughter who has Cysitic Fibrosis. Dr. Hoffman has been our daughter's doctor since 4 months of age. Being from a small isolated community we have traveled countless times to the CF clinic. Dr. Hoffman has been accommodating to us due to difficult travel and has ALWAYS made time to address any questions or concerns big or small. Dr. Hoffman's passion is apparent in the way he interacts with his patients and their families. Dr. Hoffman provides excellent care and considers each step in our daughter's treatment and health maintenance plan carefully. I highly recommend him!

StephanieLynnwod, WA03.22.11

Dr. Hoffman was just a resident when he first cared for our son. Now, as an attending physician, Dr. Hoffman still provides care and consultation for our son, 13 years later. Dr. Hoffman's bedside manner is fantastic. I will always remember him crouching down to speak eye to eye with both patients and parents. His knowledge is extensive and he is always seeking to know more. Finding answers to difficult questions is a strength of Dr. Hoffman's.
We highly recommend Dr. Luke Hoffman!

Pediatric Pulmonology, University of Washington School of Medicine, Seattle

Research Description

We are working to understand why children with chronic lung infections don't improve with antibiotics as predicted based on our knowledge of the microbes involved. As a paradigm for this problem, we focus on the chronic lung infections in people with the genetic disease cystic fibrosis (CF), infections that usually respond incompletely to antibiotics predicted to be effective against the bacteria we know to be present. They exhibit several other characteristics common to many difficult to treat, chronic lung infections, including the following:

1) They frequently include multiple microbial species infecting together, which makes it difficult to know which of these species impact lung disease either by themselves or by interacting with other pathogenic microbes.

2) The chemical and microbial environment in which these infections occur is probably different from that used in laboratory microbial tests, including the availability of nutrients that impact microbial behavior.

Currently, our laboratory studies the behavior of the microbes causing CF and other chronic lung infections in models that attempt to more closely reflect the airway environment, which includes multiple microbial species, antibiotics, and specific nutrients. We hope to identify new and more effective treatments for children with chronic, polymicrobial lung infections, starting with CF.

What's New

About This Site

Seattle Children’s provides healthcare without regard to race, color, religion (creed), sex, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin (ancestry) or disability. Financial assistance for medically necessary services is based on family income and hospital resources and is provided to children under age 21 whose primary residence is in Washington, Alaska, Montana or Idaho.